Canadian Developers Silicon Sisters Interactive Announces New Project

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Developed by Silicon Sisters, creators of games "by women, for women," Everlove is an interactive guilty pleasure for fans of romance novels

Female-focused development studio Silicon Sisters Interactive is pulling back the curtain on their next project: Everlove, a casual game designed to appeal to the more than 74 million people who read romance fiction each year. An interactive narrative that plays like a romance novel brought to life, Everlove will release for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android in August with versions for PC and Mac to follow. The studio's co-founder and CEO Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch will show the game for the first time at next week's Casual Connect conference in San Francisco.

In the book industry, romance is a hugely popular genre that yielded sales of $1.438 billion in 2012, according to the Romance Writers of America (http://www.rwa.org) -- more than mystery and sci-fi/fantasy novels combined. Romance readers are 91% women, the majority between ages 30-54. This demographic intersects perfectly with the predominantly female audience of casual games.

"Look at the splash Fifty Shades of Grey made last year. Romance fiction has a huge audience that no one else in the game industry is trying to reach," says Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch. "Video games traditionally explore male fantasies: winning a fight, competing in sports, saving the princess. We at Silicon Sisters love some of those games, as do plenty of other women. But a game that specifically delves into female fantasies -- what is that game like? That's a question we're trying to answer with Everlove."

With a focus on storytelling, character interaction, and lite HOG elements, Everlove puts players in the shoes of a young woman named Rose who has turned to past-life regression to gain insight into her personal problems. Under hypnosis, Rose is transported to the pastoral village of Heart's Home, where she soon discovers that she has chemistry with several of the locals. While building relationships, uncovering carefully guarded secrets, and navigating personal dramas, players define Rose's character and choose her path, with the game's outcome reflecting on the very issues that the modern-day protagonist wants to resolve.

Silicon Sisters' portfolio includes two School 26 games for teen and tween girls, which have had approximately 700k downloads in more than 30 countries. Everlove will be the studio's first game for adult women.